Buckle with swinging clamp belt adjustment



Dec. 6, 1966 F. L. DAVIS 3,289,261

BUCKLE WITH SWINGING CLAMP BELT ADJUSTMENT Filed Sept. 8, 1964 75 INVENTOR.

FAA/Vk DAV/ s United States Patent 3,289,261 BUCKLE WITH SWINGING CLAMP BELT ADJUSTMENT Frank L. Davis, Fort Salonga Road, Fort Salonga, Long Island, N.Y. Filed Sept. 8, 1964, Ser. No. 394,922 1 Claim. (Cl. 24-193) The invention herein disclosed relates to buckles for seat belts and the like.

Objects of the invention are to provide a safe, strong, light weight, small size quick releasable buckle having improved means for enabling adjustment of the belt length.

Particularly it is a purpose of the invention to enable quick and easy adjustment of the belt length at any time and to accomplish this so that slack may be taken up at any time by a simple pull on the free end of the belt and the belt may be loosened or let out at any time by simply rocking the buckle to increase the angle between the buckle and the belt.

The foregoing and other desirable objects have been accomplished by certain novel features of construction, combination and relation of parts, all as hereinafter described and involving in particular a novel form of swinging clamp which will firmly grip and hold the belt webbing under tension and which will release the webbing when swung in the reverse direction by simply turning the buckle to reverse the angular position of the clamping member in the frame of the buckle.

Other novel features of the invention are set forth and will appear in the course of the following specification.

The drawing accompanying and forming part of the specification illustrates a presently preferred embodiment of the invention. Structure, however, may be modified and changed as regards the immediate illustration, all within the true intent and scope of the invention as hereinafter defined and claimed.

FIG. 1 in the drawing is a plan view of the buckle as it appears in use, the belt webbing broken away.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view on substantially the plane of line 22 of FIG. 1 with the parts indicated in normal positon of use.

FIG. 3 is a similar view showing the buckle rocked to effect release of the holding clamp.

FIG. 4 is a like view showing the buckle turned to fully release the webbing.

FIG. 5 is a side elevation with the cover sectioned to expose the triangular slots in the frame.

The buckle illustrated is of the same general construction disclosed in the Davis Patents 3,091,010 of May 28, 1963 and 3,131,446 of May 5, 1964, involving a frame having a base 7 with upstanding side walls 8, 9, provided with triangular slots 10, 11, pivotally supporting a latch bar 12 designed to secure the fitting 13 on one end 14 of the belt webbing, with a cover forming lever 15 having dependent flanges 16, 17 with triangular slots 18, 19 pivotally engaged over the projecting ends 20, 21 of the latch bar.

A spring is provided for depressing the latch bar into holding engagement with the end fitting, the same being shown as doubled upon itself, providing one arm 22 en gaged with a cross bar 23 and a downwardly angled arm 24 bearing down on the latch bar, the latter portion having a forwardly extended part 25 caught within a notch 26 in the forward edge of the cover.

This spring serves in the present instance to force the latch bar downward and to rock the cover to the closed position shown in FIG. 2.

The belt length adjusting means in the present invention consists of a clamp bar 27 pivoted at its upper end at 28 between the side walls of the frame, with its lower,

3,28%,26l Patented Dec. 6, I966 free end opposed to an upstanding abutment 29 on the back wall of the frame.

Preferably this abutment is provided by striking up a portion of this back wall to provide the transverse slot 30 therein.

This slot is wide enough to accommodate the two runs 31, 32 of belt webbing extending up through the slot in a loop over the top of the swinging clamp bar.

This arrangement locates the free end portion 32 of the loop between the side of the clamp bar and the opposing face of the upstanding abutment 29 and locates the first, load carrying portion 31 of the webbing as a tensioning member operable to swing the bar in clamping engagement with the webbing.

To facilitate adjustment and holding of the webbing, the clamp bar is shown equipped with .a U-shaped cover 33 arched over the top of the bar and forming a smooth surface over which the webbing may be slipped in either direction.

This cover is shown bent under the lower edge of the bar at 34 to lock it in place and as terminating short of the lower edge of the bar, at the opposite face at 35 to serve as a web gripping edge.

The lower exposed edge 36 of the bar also serves in the present instance as a web gripping portion.

The abutment 29 struck up from the bottom of the frame, is shown in FIG. 1 as slightly crowned or bowed toward the swinging clamp so that if there is any yield under extreme pressure, this will only serve: to flatten the abutment and thus increase rather than diminish the holding engagement between the clamp bar and abutment.

A relatively light tension on the belt length 31, through leverage exerted on the swinging clamp bar will serve to hold the webbing firmly gripped against the abutment 29 but pull on the end portion 32 will slip the webbing between the bar and abutment in a belt tightening direction.

This enables a user of the belt to take up slack and tighten the belt at any time and the buckle will hold in reverse direction irrespective of slack takeup adjustments.

To release the grip and permit belt lengthening adjustments or release of tension, it is only necessary to rock the buckle as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 into angled relation with respect to the belt, whereupon the webbing at 31, 32 may be slipped freely in either direction over and about the top of the clamp bar, then free of holding relation with the stationary abutment.

The swinging abutment and companion clamping shoulder take up a small space in the end of the frame and enable the buckle to be made particularly fiat, short and relatively small.

The pivoted upper end of the clamp bar is sufiiciently removed from the upstanding abutment to provide constant clearance for the loop of webbing extending over the bar and between the bar and abutment so that, when the buckle is turned into angular relation in respect to the belt, the webbing will be free to slide over the bar.

This allows for quick action in adjusting the belt length and instant release of tension if that be desired while the belt is in connected holding relation.

While small in size and light in weight, the construction is strong and durable and free of any complicated parts likely to get out of order.

The clamp for the belt webbing operates as a one way clutch, permitting free slack take-up adjustment but holding against reverse movement, unless intentionally turned, as in FIGS. 3 and 4, to an angle of possibly 60 to degrees to free the clamp bar from holding relation with the stationary abutment wall.

To assure the firm positive gripping engagement of the webbing, the clamp bar is shown as having pivotal sliding mounting in the frame, enabling it to slide bodily 3 toward the stationary abutment as tension is applied on the belt.

In the illustration this is accomplished by mounting the pivot studs of the bar loosely in triangular slots 37 in the supporting walls of the frame placed to enable sliding movement of the bar toward the stationary wall under pull of the webbing surrounding the bar.

A special feature of the invention is that when turned to the FIG. 4 position with the buckle freed of holding engagement with the webbing, it can be quickly shifted over the webbing to a fully retracted position, out of the way, in a seat belt installation.

A loose, swinging mounting of the clamp bar in the frame enables this bar to operate as a floating cam adjustably engaging the webbing at the two separated pinching and gripping points 35, 36, with gripping power increasing with the load.

The upturned edge portion 29 forms a transverse reinforcement of the buckle frame and this holding section of the frame is further reinforced in the illustration by a flange 38 turned up at the end of the frame and which serves also as a partial closure and finish for that end of the frame.

The slot 30 in the bottom of the frame is preferably made wide enough to freely pass both runs of the loop of webbing, as shown in FIG. 4, so that, with the buckle turned to approximately 90 degree angle, the webbing will be entirely free to slide in either direction.

The height or extent of the transverse abutment 29 may vary, since for some purposes the edge of the slot may provide suflicient abutment for secure holding of the webbing.

What is claimed is:

A seat belt buckle comprising a frame of channel form having a back wall and upstanding parallel side walls,

means at one end of said frame for releasable holding engagement with the end of a section of belt webbing,

said back wall at the opposite end having a transversely extending portion struck up into a transverse flange along one edge of a slot extending transversely of the back wall, and

a clamp bar over said slot spaced from and substantially parallel with said flange,

said bar having projecting end lugs at the upper edge of the same loosely pivoted in said side walls at points spaced from the flange and having the lower edge free to swing toward and away from the flange,

to permit a loop of belt webbing extended up through the slot and over said upper edge to be adjusted free of any holding engagement with said flange,

said spacing of the bar from said flange enabling the loop of webbing to be freely adjusted over the same in both directions when said buckle is turned substantially at a right angle to the length of webbing providing the loop aforesaid, said side walls having triangular openings in which said lugs of the clamp bar are loosely journalled, enabling bodily movement as well as swinging movement of the bar toward said transverse flange, and

said flange being transversely bowed toward the clamping bar to carry maximum pressure thereon, and

a smooth U-shaped cover having a rounded top and engaged over the upper edge of the clamp bar and crimped over the lower edge of said bar at one side and terminating in a lower edge short of the lower edge of the bar at the opposite side in opposition to the flange and leaving the lower edge of the bar exposed at that side in opposition to the flange,

whereby the loop of webbing will be free to slide over the smooth rounded top of said cover and will be gripped against the upstanding flange by said lower edge of the cover and the lower edge of the bar X-' posed below the same.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 544,856 8/1895 Koopman 24-75 861,111 7/1907 Gonce 24170 X 982,433 1/1911 Knight et al. 24l70 2,903,774 9/1959 Harley 24-170 3,078,538 2/1963 Brown 24230 FOREIGN PATENTS 542,424 5/ 1922 France.

83,172 10/1895 Germany.

WILLIAM FELDMAN, Primary Examiner.

E. SIMONSEN, Assistant Examiner. 

